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Sunday, 14 October 2012

Art: Axis @ 21 - Hearther James

As part of our 21st birthday celebrations, Axis has caught up with members who have benefited from opportunities provided by our site.

Heather James, a Cumbria-based still-life painter, has enthusiastically taken advantage of some the opportunities that Axis has to offer. Her work utilises the conventions of the European still-life tradition to consider contemporary attitudes towards beauty, and our relationships with each other.

‘I've had about nine exhibition opportunities through Axis, two have been in publicly-funded spaces, one an arts and culture centre in a major city, and the rest private galleries. Two of those were for their stands at art fairs, including one in Amsterdam. I don't have any other website, as I've found I don't need one.‘’

‘Shortly after being taken on by Axis after graduation in 2006, I was contacted by an art consultant who has bought one large piece, and then commissioned a further four large paintings, the last of which was sold last year to a luxury London hotel, (I see it mentioned in lots of style pages - the hotel that is).’

‘My work tends to take about two months at the very least for each large painting, and I've found the pressure is on from receiving the order for the commission to completing it in that time. On one occasion, the painting was moved whilst still not even touch dry - face out in its own empty and spotlessly clean van!’
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‘The latest commission, which has just left the studio, was for a private collector who saw my work at the first show I was offered, and he keeps an eye on its progress via Axis, and wanted a work similar to one that had sold previously.’